Portland police rescue family penned into bedroom by 22-pound cat

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Portland police rescued a family penned into a bedroom by a 22-pound house cat after the cat had attacked a baby Sunday night.

The baby was OK, but the family – dog included – was forced to take refuge in a bedroom as the Himalayan cat continued to rage outside.

"It's only funny when it's not happening to you," said Teresa Barker. "When this happens to you, I assure you, you will do the same things."

The feline free-for-all started when Teresa's baby boy Jessie pulled the cat's tail. The cat whacked Jessie in the forehead, drawing blood.

Teresa's boyfriend kicked the cat away from the baby, and that's when the cat went wild.

"He was on top of the fridge, and then when something like that turns around and follows you, you're kinda getting backed up," Barker said. "As you can see, it's kind of a small space in here, so yeah, it was very frightening."

The family locked themselves in a bedroom, and when Animal Control didn't answer, Teresa's boyfriend called 911.

"Yeah, hi, I have a kind of a particular emergency here," the boyfriend told the dispatcher. "Um, my cat attacked my 7-month-old child... and we're trapped in our bedroom. He won't let us out of our door."

He continued later: "He's at our door, bedroom door... do you hear him screaming? " Operator: "Yeah, yeah, I hear him."

Officer Timothy Bocciolatt and Craig Lehman were called to the scene.

"When we first got the call, we were thinking 'it's a cat call, is this really what's coming out?' " Bocciolatt said.

Bocciolatt grabbed central precinct's only animal control snare and they managed to corral the cat. "The cat did not want to get back in the cage, that was for sure," Bocciolatt said. "He wanted to be free at that point."

Barker said she's not sure what she's going to do with the cat.

"Being trapped in an apartment or a house with anything that is going to be violent like that is very scarey," she said.